For the better part of a year, four different polls have shown Republican Gov. Tom Corbett’s approval rating at historic lows for an incumbent. Despite spending millions on campaign commercials this summer, Corbett’s likability among registered voters didn’t change and he remained 25 percentage points behind Democratic rival Tom Wolf, according to a Franklin & Marshall Poll released Thursday.

But Corbett’s re-election campaign manager Mike Barley and communications director Chris Pack apparently are not working overtime to give Corbett a last-minute make-over.

Instead, the duo took to Twitter to shoot the messenger: F&M pollster and professor G. Terry Madonna.

In tweets on Thursday, Barley accused Madonna of being a shoddy pollster and Pack alleged Madonna was in cahoots with Wolf’s wife.

“You are unfairly influencing this election with bad polls,” Barley wrote on Madonna’s Twitter handle @terrymadonna.

“Is @wolfforpa’s wife still on your board of trustees,” Pack wrote in reference to Frances Wolf being one of 34 trustees at the Lancaster college.

Madonna replied to Barley that his criticisms were based on a misunderstanding of the poll data.

Barley claimed Madonna’s poll was tailored specifically toward Democrats because of the way the poll was weighted to reflect Democratic edge in voter registration.

In Pennsylvania, the number of Democratic voters outnumber Republicans by 12 percent.

The methodology section of the poll states: “Survey results were weighted (gender, region and party) using an iterative weighting algorithm to reflect the known distribution of those characteristics as reported by the Pennsylvania Department of State.” The survey of 520 registered voters also had a margin of error of plus or minus 4.3 percentage points.

In a Morning Call interview, Madonna said the weighting system is the standard way polling is done and he has used the same methodology in a quarter century of polling, including in 2010 when his poll accurately predicted Corbett would beat Democrat Dan Onorato.

“I understand campaigns that are not doing well are going to try to punch holes in polls they don’t like,” Madonna said. “It’s a common practice. All campaigns do it.”

In an interview Friday, Barley stood by his Twitter criticisms, saying Madonna should have used a poll of likely voters, which is a better measure of election-day turnout. When media prints Madonna’s poll results as “gossip” it hurts Corbett’s fundraising ability, Barley said.

The campaign has pointed to its internal poll of likely voters that shows Wolf’s lead at 7 percentage points. It also says to win, the Corbett campaign must increase favorability or demotivate oppositional turnout in nine counties where Wolf holds double-digit leads: Northampton, Philadelphia, Montgomery, Bucks, Chester, Lackawanna, Luzerne, Allegheny and Fayette.

Pages 7 and 8 of the new 26-page F&M poll discuss turnout predictions.

In the last five general elections, the poll states, Republicans by 2 percentage points have voted more often than Democrats. However, in the Nov. 4 election, the poll predicts Democrats might outnumber Republicans by 4 percentage points based on the number of Democrats compared to Republicans who indicated in the poll they were “very interested and certain to vote” and were following the election.

However, the poll also carries a caveat: “At the moment, which party has an advantage in voter interest and turnout is still unclear.” The reason is two-fold. Democratic opposition to Corbett could lead to more turnout, the poll states. But at the same time, opposition to President Barack Obama among Republicans and Independents could hurt Democrats, the poll states.

Barley, however, was not satisfied with madonna’s answer on Twitter. He then accused Madonna of not using enough voters to get a fair representation of opinions.

“How do you sleep at night,” Barley asked Madonna.

Pack added: “Irresponsible.”

Madonna did not fire back with his own online school-yard insults.

Others did, calling Barley and Pack crybabies.

“Waaaa,” wrote the Twitter handle “Not Keith Masser.”

“Hate to break it to him, but voters are gonna influence the election even more than the polls. And voters say #OneTermTom,” wrote Jeremy Reeder.

No incumbent governor in the modern era has lost re-election. Corbett finds himself trying to be the first.

His low approval ratings stems in large part from his image of being anti-public education due to budget cuts that occurred in 2011-12. There is also lingering anger among Penn State University supporters who accuse Corbett of tarnishing the reputation of legendary football coach Joe Paterno in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse criminal trial.

Republican voters showed their displeasure for Corbett in the May primary by casting more than 26,000 more votes for his running mate, Lt. Gov. Jim Cawley.

The new F&M poll showed Corbett still has a problem with his GOP base. Just 40 percent of GOP voters rated Corbett’s job performance as excellent or good.

Overall, the F&M poll found Wolf leads Corbett 49 percentage points to 24 percentage points, compared to 47 to 25 in June. The poll also found one-in-four voters undecided, with slightly more of them leaning toward Wolf.

On Thursday, Barley and Pack shot the pollster on Twitter for delievering the message.